Ex-Southwest pilot sentenced for exposing himself, watching porn on flight

A retired Southwest pilot was sentenced to probation Friday after pleading guilty to exposing his genitals to a female first officer and watching pornography on a laptop during a flight from Philadelphia to Florida last year. Michael Haak, 60, apologized and expressed remorse for his actions before US Magistrate Judge J. Mark Coulson sentenced him to one year of unsupervised probation and a $5,000 fine. “It started as a consensual prank between me and the other pilot. I never imagined it would turn into this in a thousand years,” Haak said during a remote hearing. Federal prosecutors said that Haak had never met the first officer before that flight bound for Orlando on Aug. 10, 2020. After the plane reached its cruising altitude, Haak got out of the pilot’s seat, “disrobed” and began watching pornographic material on a laptop computer in the cockpit, prosecutors said. “As the plane continued its flight, Haak further engaged in inappropriate conduct in the cockpit, as the first officer continued to perform her duties as an assigned aircrew member,” the statement says. The judge told Haak that his actions had a traumatic effect on the co-pilot and could have impacted the safety of passengers and other co-workers.<br/>